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Well, Nerd HQ had a nice little Q&A up with Matt, Jenna and Moffatt (sorry, Steven) hosted bt Nathan Fillion - nothing spoilery mentioned, but Moffat gave some interesting insights into his work and process.

And then there's the news that the latest IDW comic, written by Paul Cornell, where the Doctor will come to our universe... and meet Matt Smith.

And general nerdy Marvel news: Karen Gillan has shaved her head (!) for 'Guardians Of The Galaxy', and Joss Whedon announced that the full title for Avengers 2 will be 'The Avengers: Age Of Ultron'.

I cringe at the idea of fictional characters meeting the actors who play them in our universe. Every time I've seen it done, it's been a mess.

But maybe Cornell knows how bad all those attempts are, and he's got a brilliant way of subverting/inverting/converting it into something quite entertaining. I'll give the benefit of the doubt up until the moment I see the finished product.

I don't know, all this Comic-Con stuff and coverage just reiterated that I am either old or cynical, because I cannot muster any joy for whatever they'll announce. I just...O.K., I began to dislike the fact that we keep getting old stories over and over again. Where are our original characters? And when I say original I mean original and not based upon some comic book that only got optioned due to the fact that comic books are in vogue. O.K., it is true that it is a bit hard to be original in these times, but in that case - where are our Indiana Joneses or Star Treks, i.e homages that transcended their influences and became icons on their own?

I quite liked Red Dwarf: Back To Earth. Although the scene with them meeting Craig Charles wasn't one of my favourite bits.

The DWM 20th aniversary special (the one for its own 20th aniversary in 1999, not Doctor Who's) dodged the issue by having the Eighth Doctor travel back to 1979 and meeting Tom Baker. And even then they didn't interact much.

BBC America had an amusing video up on YouTube where Matt Smith out on a Bart (I think) Simpson mask and walked around the Comic Con floor pretended to be American and complimenting Doctor Who stuff. Everyone thought he was strange.

I kid... but yeah, pretty much the only things I paid any attention to were the My Little Pony and Legend of Korra stuff. Since my memory is not very visual, what I remembered of first-season Korra was that it was a good story but not quite as good as the original series... I'd forgotten how jaw-droppingly *gorgeous* that show is.

Pacific Rim? Elysium? RIPD? There are plenty of original pieces of genre media coming out. The audience does vote with their wallets however. If they want more original quality stuff they need to get out and see it.

I have heard about these, but...I watched Pacific Rim, but I disliked that it did not transcend the cliches of the genres it was inspired from. Why weren't the characters more rounded? Why didn't they make the best use of their concepts? I did not hate it, though, but I felt there were many missed opportunities. I can say the same for RIPD, even though I have not seen it yet. I mean, I like the concept, but I've heard they've completely screwed it up. As far as Elysium is concerned, I am putting a lot of hope into it. District 9 was one of the most pleasant surprises I have ever seen and I am happy to hear that Neill Blomkamp is averse to pre-established franchises (I guess Halo hurt him). I hope he will continue with original ideas (his next after Elysium sounds weird in a good way).

Still, I wish there were more original ideas and less reboots. I wish that we would see, I don't know, a space pirate with a crew that includes a depressive cyborg, an anthropomorphic trigger happy rabbit and an alien that looks like a sentient teapot (I have made all these characters up, yet I think I might have described a certain anime, although I do not know which one).

@matt: That's, IIRC, "Visit to a Strange Planet, Revisited". It's actually a sequel to one of the first commercially published licensed stories, "Visit to a Strange Planet", wherein Jim, Spock and Bones step onto the transporter and find themselves on the set of a TV show.

@Daibhid: Back to Earth was a lot like season 10 for me. Lots of good moments, but it didn't really feel right taken as a whole.

Pacific Rim was interesting; it felt like Guillermo del Toro put EVERY SINGLE IDEA he ever had for a giant robot/giant monster movie into it, because he was afraid he'd never be able to make another one, but that kept any of them from really being developed thoroughly.

The best bit of the Nerd HQ panel was the young girl who had her mother ask Matt why he was leaving, because she was too upset to do so herself. Matt was quite obviously bothered by how much it upset her, and promised her a special photo with him after the panel. As they were leaving, he made sure to stop, get her attention, and (via mime) remind her to come out for her photo.

Something done in the same style or tone is not a ripoff. Is Resivoir Dogs a rip off of City on Fire? I was unaware of the Dark Horse comic, but you can't really say it's like anything out there. Same with Pacific Rim. The characters were not 100% but I felt like we were given enough there to "fill in the blanks"; they were archetypical but that worked for me.

Also it looks like Guardians might be what you want...but it of course comes from a comic book.

Ragnarök written & drawn by Walt Simonson, and a remastered version of his Star Slammers from IDW were highlights for me.

The photos of Guardians of the Galaxy props look interesting and I'm intrigued by the announcement of a Batman & Son animated film and how they're going to tone down the entitled-psycopathic-ten-year-old persona of Damien as he first appeared.

Ununnilium - you are correct. It felt like Guillermo Del Toro wanted to do the ultimate kaiju spectacle and threw a lot of concepts wihout any development. For instance - the drift is such a fascinating idea that could be the focus of the entire story, yet it is only fully used in one sequence which was incredible, though, but still...you create such a concept and relegate it into one scene?Theonlyspiral - I've heard about Guardians, but I am basically fed up with Marvel Studios and their comic book adaptations. They just don't do anything for me. And don't get me started on DC Comics (although I have to admit that I have a soft spot for The Dark Knight trilogy despite its flaws - Batman is the only superhero that I can still watch). I don't know, it seems that I've reached that point where I can no longer enjoy nerd properties. Maybe I am turning into Dr. House. But there is also a thing that enrages me the most and that maybe influences my view on the nerd culture - nerds and their sense of entitlement. Why do they believe everyone who works on their beloved properties must adhere to their rules? I don't see anyone complaining, if they screw up a classical piece of literature, but do something with a fanboy property that goes against their thinking and things become so nasty you're afraid for people working on it. Why do they believe their properties must get the best treatment?

What's not to love about The Star Wars Holiday Special? It's got everything you could want: First appearance of Boba Fett; First appearance of Mark Hamil's shiny new face; Carrie Fisher stoned off her gourd; Jefferson Starship; Art Carney; Lumpy; Singing Bea Arthur. What's not to love (I mean, other than all those things I mentioned)?

(There's an internet reviewer who did a series on Weird Bits of Doctor Who, wherein he described the impact of Dimensions In Time by positing a universe where 'The Star Wars Holiday Special' was what they released to theaters instead of The Phantom Menace.)